Meeting the Challenge
Poor sexual and reproductive health is a source of enormous suffering for millions of the world's poorest people. High levels of mortality and morbidity as a result of sexual and reproductive health problems compromise efforts to reduce poverty. Yet in many countries the issues remain invisible and taboo. Despite two decades of sustained effort, sexual and reproductive rights are poorly understood and articulated and progress on improving sexual and reproductive health indicators is slow.
We aim to respond to these challenges, using research to raise the profile of sexual and reproductive health and rights in developing countries and working in partnership to find innovative solutions.
Latest News
What's new for June 2009?
UK Event
The UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt, Aid and Trade, the Institute of Development Studies Sexuality and Development Programme and the Realising Rights Research Programme Consortium are co-sponsoring an event in the House of Commons. Attendance is open to all.
>> print the invite (pdf)
>> read more
Realising Rights newsletter
Our Spring edition is now availiable online or as a pdf.
London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine wins 2009 annual Gates award for Global Health.
>> read more
STIs and HIV in Pakistan
A recent study from Realising Rights published as a special issue in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections seeks to understand the drivers of sexually transmitted infections in Pakistan.
An article written by Rose Oronje from APHRC explores why sexual and reproductive health rights remain an issue of controversy and misunderstanding in Africa and what can be done to address this.
>> read the article
John Cleland awarded CBE
John Cleland, Realising Rights researcher from London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine was awarded the CBE in the recent Queen's Birthday Honours for services to Social Science.
Can someone tell me how babies are made?
New article from Realising Rights Kate Hawkins
We have a new US Administration
Read an article on this from Realising Rights member Kate Hawkins on the Steps Centre blog, The Crossing.
Realising Rights held their annual planning meeting in Accra, Ghana hosted by INDEPTH Network.
>> read newspaper article
UK Parliament hearings into maternal morbidity
UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health held their hearings on maternal morbidity this week. At the hearings the Department for International Development announced their decision to draft a strategy on sexual and reproductive health and maternal health.
>>Realising Rights evidence to the enquiry
>>London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine evidence to the enquiry (pdf)
Sex Workers in Development: Can we get to hear their voices?
A seminar at the Institute of Development Studies on the 5 December will introduce the Paulo Longo Research Initiative and feature speakers on gender, sexuality, migration and trafficking. This will be followed by a showing of the film 'Caught Between the Tiger and the Crocodile', produced by Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW).
Ghana partners in the news
Coverage of our workshop 'Enforcement of Reproductive rights Laws and Policies' was picked up by Ghanaweb. In the article Nana Oye argues that legal abortion and family planning should be factored into the National Health Insurance Scheme to reduce the maternal mortality rate in Ghana.
Painful Tradeoffs: Intimate partner violence and sexual and reproductive health and rights in Kenya
IDS Working Paper
paper now available.
>>Read more
>>Download the Working Paper (pdf)
'Metaphors we Love By' makes an impact
Work by our partner African Population and Health Research Center suggests that analysing the metaphors young people use while talking about sex can provide valuable insights into the ways in which youth understand sex, sexual behaviour, and sexual relationships.
>> Talking about sex:
Using youth
language in
sexuality education
>> Read about it on the Communication Initiative website
>> The Joyfulmamilsa blog picked up the research
Men in Malawi
A new paper from Realising Rights exploring 'Masculinity scripts and the sexual vulnerability of male youth in Malawi' has been published in the International Journal of Sexual Health.
Rethinking Sexuality and Policy
This publication from the Institute of Development Studies in the UK explores the link between sexuality and the norms that are set for sexual relations by policies and politics, including
social norms and gender dynamics, national policies and
international relations.
PowerPoint Presentations
Take a peek at some of the PowerPoint presentations that are available
View Realising Rights PowerPoint presentations on slideshare.net
Focus on access to basic services
Our colleagues in Kenya have been featured in a number of news stories on sanitation and access to healthcare in urban areas.
>> Interview with Dr. Alex Ezeh on water and sanitation problems in slums, Inter-press Service News Agency
>> Interview with Dr. Eliya Zulu on Healthcare hurdles in Nairobi slums with IRIN news
>> Article Published in Kenya’s Daily Nation on Disease Burden among the urban poor
Reproductive health issues in the news in Kenya
Rose Oronje from the African Population and Health Research Center placed an article with the Inter Press Service News Agency - 'Women's Choices Change Cities'.
Africa faces daunting challenges in improving its population well-being
Research from our partners in Kenya and the
Population Reference Bureau shows that even as African women use family planning more and bear fewer children, the continent’s youthful population will fuel the continent’s growth for many decades to come.
>> Read the 2008 Africa Population Data Sheet (pdf)
>> Media briefing available (pdf)
Reaching out to the Commonwealth Finance Ministers
Kate Hawkins has been published in the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Reference Report 2008 ‘Every Woman Counts: How Can We Act to Improve Maternal Health?’.
Realising Rights Newsletter
Our Autumn Newsletter is now available online or as a pdf.
Engaging civil society on maternal and child health in Ghana
INDEPTH Network was represented at the Annual Health Forum of Civil Society Organizations in Health by Ayaga A. Bawah. He presented on mapping health outcomes and what civil society could do to prevent maternal and child deaths.
Nature podcast
John Cleland, from our partner London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was featured in the Nature podcast
Blogging on the Millennium Development Goals
Realising Rights have entered into the debates around maternal health on the UN blog to accompany the High Level Event on the MDGs.
Briefing on masculinity
Gender inequalities are shaping how the HIV epidemic evolves and in order to engage men as ‘part
of the solution’ we must deal with issues of male power. Read Men, Sex and HIV: Directions for
Politicising Masculinities (pdf).
New work on abortion
Thousands of women die every year because they were unable to access a safe abortion. Find out why and what can be done to overcome the barriers that prevent women accessing appropriate health services.
>>Realising Rights factsheet on safe abortion (pdf)
>>IDS Bulletin on Unsafe Abortion: A Development Issue
>>Issues in focus page on abortion
New journal article
Our colleague from Kenya, Joanna Crichton, has been published in Health Policy and Planning writing on family planning content within national health policy.
Monograph from BRAC now available to download
Learn about the practices and restrictions surrounding
menstruation, concerns surrounding infertility and
its causes and the patterns of health seeking behaviour of Bangladeshi women to treat their
menstrual illnesses. (pdf)
Factsheet on syphilis
12 million people are infected with syphilis each year despite the means to prevent onward transmission and the existence of screening technologies and inexpensive treatment. This factsheet explains how policy makers can help tackle syphilis as part of their work on reproductive and maternal health. (pdf)
Research Highlights
Issues in focus
Unsafe abortion the cause of an estimated 15% of maternal deaths.
Key issues guide on universal access to sexual and reproductive health services
The guide examins factors that inhibit access to and use of SRH services...>>
Gender and sexuality
A Siyanda gender and development quick guide... >>
Eldis key issues guide on SRH rights
Aimed at policymakers, donors and practioners...>>
Sexuality and Rights Workshop
Report of the Worskhop, January 2007, BRAC...>>
